7th year encounters
by S.A.chic4HG
Summary: Harry never went to Hogwarts before. He's only starting his seventh year as he has defeated voldemort the previous summer. Share harry's experience as he goes to Hogwarts for the first time
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter, a young man of seventeen years of age, sat and listened to his godfather explaining over again what kind of pranks he should pull while at Hogwarts. Harry tried to listen really but he'd been hearing this same mantra since they had decided that Harry should go to Hogwarts. Sirius could go on and on about pranking without stopping and no one knew this better than his godson Harry.

The reason why Sirius was so excited was because Harry was finally going to go to Hogwarts to experience what he should have when he was eleven. Harry was only going to go for his seventh and last year but Sirius had just told him that it was better late than never.

Harry on the other hand wasn't that excited. He knew that the people attending Hogwarts would only appreciate him because he was famous and not because of who he was. Friendships were bound to be strong at Hogwarts and it would be hard for a new comer to just waltz in and fit in without attracting some attention and even worse gossip from the other students. Not that Harry really minded what other people had to say about him but he didn't want to start at Hogwarts on a bad note.

"Harry son, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Sirius asked him. He knew that Harry was less than thrilled about going to Hogwarts but really, Sirius thought it was best for him and had asked him to go.

The past sixteen years of Harry's life had been spent trying to train him to be able to take on Voldermort and especially for him to come out alive. Not that they hadn't had any fun. They had it in large amounts over the past years. Sirius was a marauder after all.

They had spent periods pranking each other or going on exotic holidays, concerts or whatever they fancied at the time.

In spite of everything that they had gone through, Harry had still come out the best kind of young man that anyone would be proud to call their son. Sirius was proud to have raised him and couldn't be happier with how he turned out. He knew that Lily would've been extra proud as Harry had turned out to be a gentleman despite being raised by someone like Sirius.

"I'm sorry Sirius. I kind of zoned out. What were you saying?"

"Never mind that Harry. I'm sure you'll do me proud anyway. I know you didn't exactly want to go to Hogwarts but I know you'll have fun Harry. I just want you to do something normal for once. Go to school like a normal seventeen year old."

"I know Sirius. I just don't feel like I'm going to belong though. Most of those children have never really had to worry about things like surviving and destroying the darkest wizard there ever was. All they've ever worried about is homework and quiditch. How can I even begin to feel normal around that?"

Sirius had known that Harry had some reservations about going to Hogwarts but he didn't know they came from Harry feeling different from children his age. But of course he was different. There was no shame in that. Harry had gone through what most adult wizards had never nor will they ever go through in their lives. That didn't make him an outcast in his eyes though. He was just one of those people that you couldn't help nut love.

He had rid the world of Voldermort the previous year and deserved some normalcy and stability in his life. Sirius was determined that he would get that stability no matter what he had to do to ensure that.

"I know you've never exactly been around children your age but you'll make it work. No one in their right mind would not love you Harry. You're the best kid ever. Plus Hogwarts is the best place to make long time friends…and meet the girl of your dreams," he teased while ruffling Harry's hair.

Harry in turn rolled his eyes but with a grin on his face.

"You've told me that before. And look at you and Elle. You didn't meet at Hogwarts but still you're happy aren't you?" he teased.

"Well I'm a special case really Harry. Extra ordinary things always happen to me," he told Harry with a dramatic sigh.

Of course he had been lucky to have met Elizabeth and to have caught her attention. She was the most beautiful and down to earth woman that he had ever met. She made him smile when he was down; got him to do things that he didn't want to do without him even realizing so. And most importantly she loved both himself and Harry very much. Harry never usually liked the women that he would bring home in the past but he had liked Elle the very first time that he had met her.

That more than anything had shown him that Elle was someone that was for keeps and he had vowed not to mess it up.

"Yeah special case in deed," Harry said while rolling his eyes again.

"Gosh I'm going to miss the kids while I'm away," he told Sirius pensively.

"They're going to miss you too. Andrew will be so bored without you to hero worship and Emily will cry a lot for sure when you leave. You know those kids just adore you. They're going to drive us nuts without you here. You usually use up most of their energy when you play with them."

Andrew and Emily were Sirius' children. They were five and three years old respectively. Sirius had been ecstatic when Elizabeth had told him he was expecting on both occasions. Harry too was happy and excited to finally have someone to dote on. He loved those two little kids with all his heart. They made his life even brighter than it already was.

"Well, talking about energy, I better go and sleep so that I have enough energy tomorrow when I go to Hogwarts. After all I don't want to be late for my first ride to Hogwarts."

"Ok Harry. You're going to love Hogwarts, I swear."

"I'm sure I will. And I'll try my best to carry out the marauders legacy."

"That's what I love to hear Harry," Sirius told him while he hugged him.

Harry smiled up at his godfather and went up to bed.

Harry's room was quite big and had green colored walls. He had posters all over his room of his favorite music groups and quiditch teams. He liked both wizard and muggle music so his posters had both moving and still pictures.

He had a plasma on one wall and a sound system against another. He had one wall lined with cds, dvds and books. His room was the epitome of cool for a young man like himself.

When Harry got to his room, he quickly removed his jeans and shirt and crept into his bed in his briefs. He quickly slept immediately after his head hit the pillow.

….

When Harry walked into the kitchen the following morning, he saw that everyone was up. Elizabeth was already making breakfast and the kids were already fighting over something.

"Good morning everyone," he said with a smile.

"Morning Harry," Elizabeth said while she went to kiss him on his cheek.

"HARRY!" Emily screamed while throwing herself at him.

"Morning princess," he said with a kiss on each cheek.

"Harry, Andy told me that he's going to Hoggiwarty with you. Are you only going to take him and leave me here alone?" she asked with sad eyes. Harry had never known how to resist those big blue eyes that looked so much like Elle's.

"Of course I won't sweetheart and it's Hogwarts not Hoggiwarty," he told her with a sweet smile. He hugged her and kissed her once more and ruffled her hair.

"Andy," he started but they boy in question interrupted him.

"I was just joking Harry. I didn't mean it Em really," he told his sister.

Emily in turn just huffed and went to sit on her fathers lap causing Sirius to smirk while thinking how very alike his daughter was to her mother.

And Emily and Elizabeth truly did look alike. They both had big blue eyes with long lashes and pouty lips. The only thing that was remotely Sirius on Emily's face was her dark curly hair which was the opposite of her mother's blonde hair. She already knew how to use those beautiful eyes to her best advantage too. She had everyone wrapped around her tiny finger.

Andrew on the other hand looked just like Sirius. He had his grey eyes and his hair. He even tended to act like him too with all the teasing and pranking that he was inclined to do.

"You better be buddy. I don't want you teasing Em while I'm gone," Harry said even though he knew that was not likely to happen. Knowing Andy, he would do anything to get a laugh. He was just too much like his father for his own good.

"Ok Harry," Andrew said with an innocent smile on his face.

Harry just rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair.

"Harry sweetheart, can you please set the table for me," Elle asked.

Harry did as he was told and waited for breakfast to be served while entertaining the kids.

When Elizabeth served the food the whole family ate quickly while chatting about trivial matters. They quickly cleaned up and climbed into the family car and left for the train station.

Even though the family members were wizards through and through, they enjoyed some of the muggle luxuries. Cars were just one of those luxuries that the blacks could afford. They owned four cars already and Sirius had also bought Harry a Lamborghini for his sixteenth birthday. The Blacks were quite a rich family with combined wealth from both Sirius and Elizabeth. Harry too had inherited a small fortune from his parents and had just taken control of his wealth when he came of age.

And Harry, being the young man that he was, adored his car. He even gave it a name and took every opportunity to drive it places.

Harry and his family only arrived at Kings Cross Station with 15 minutes to spare. Harry quickly went to put his trunk inside a compartment and went to say goodbye.

"Take care of yourself Harry. I want you to have a normal year. I don't want any trouble ok? And I don't want to get a letter telling us about your pranks ok?"

"Don't worry Elle. I won't get caught," he told her with a twinkle in his eye.

Elle laughed and gave him a quick hug.

"Remember Harry," Sirius started with a devious grin, "get as many girls as you can, prank as much as you can and get the most detentions possible," he finished with a cry of pain as his wife hit him on the back of his head.

Harry laughed and hugged his godfather. He then turned to his siblings (in everything but blood really) and kneeled down to their level. Emily already had tears running down her cheeks while Andrew looked sad and obviously trying to hol

d back tears. He couldn't show weakness in front of his sister. He had to be strong just as he was supposed to be, being the big boy that he was. Well that's what he thought anyway.

"I'll write you constantly you guys. And I'll miss you loads."

"But why can't we go with you?" Emily asked.

"You'll get to go sweetie. Just not now. When you're eleven you'll be able to go and explore the castle with kids your own age," he told her gently while wiping away her tears.

"But that's ages away," Andrew complained.

"I know Andy but that's the way things are ok? Just be good to your parents and take care of Em ok?"

"Ok Harry," he promised.

Harry gave them both tight hugs and hugged Elizabeth and Sirius again and then ran to get on the Hogwarts express.

"Bye everyone!"

"Bye Harry!"

"We love you!"

"Enjoy yourself!"

….

Harry was sitting alone in his compartment reading a car magazine when a group of students entered his compartment.

There was a tall red headed male who looked about his age, a serious looking brunette and a gorgeous red headed girl.

"Hi, we're sorry to just budge in but all the compartments are full," the gorgeous red head said.

_Wow so not only pretty but nice voice too,_ Harry thought. He had to suppress a blush at his thoughts of the red head.

"So can we sit with you?" she finished.

"Sure," Harry told them.

"I'm Hermione Granger," the brunette said, "This is Ron and that's Ginny Weasley. Me and Ron are in our last year here and Ginny is in her sixth. They're siblings as I'm sure you can tell. I've never seen you around so you must be new."

"Yeah I'm new," Harry said while wondering how the brunette…no Hermione could say all that in one breath.

"So what's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Harry." He said. He didn't want to tell them his last name even though it was inevitable.

"What year are you going to be in?"

"My last too I think."

"So Harry…Harry what?" Ron asked.

"Harry Potter," he said uncomfortably.

"For real mate? Wow!"

"I've read lots about you. Did you know-"

"Hermione…I'm sure Harry doesn't want to know if he doesn't know already,"

"But-"

"Hermione!"

"Thanks Ginny," Harry said with a smile.

The group was sitting chatting and getting to know Harry better when a platinum haired boy walked into their compartment.

"What have we got here?" he drawled arrogantly. "You must be Harry Potter. I'm Draco Malfoy. I heard that you were coming to Hogwarts this year. Of course I didn't believe that at first but oh well, I guess I was wrong," he smirked. "And you wouldn't want to associate yourself with the filth of Hogwarts. I can show you around and also show you the kind of people that you can associate with."

"It's nice to meet you Draco," Harry said while shaking his hand.

The other three in the compartment were looking at the two in various states of shock and dismay.

Draco smiled and returned the handshake.

"I guess it would be nice being your friend but friends don't tell friends what to do yeah? I think I can choose my own friends."

Malfoy just looked at him gob smacked and for once looked like he didn't know what to say.

"I guess you're right Harry Potter."

Harry smiled at him and couldn't help but offer him a place in the compartment.

"I'd love to but I can't really," Draco told him. "I have a prefects meeting in five meetings that I really have to get to."

"See you later then. It was nice meeting you Draco"

Malfoy nodded and walked out of the compartment.

"What was that Harry?" Ginny asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"That's Malfoy. He's the biggest prat in Hogwarts. I wouldn't trust him if I was you," Ron finished.

"No offense you guys but as I told him, I can choose my own friends."

"Well if you think so," Hermione said uncertainly. "Anyway Ron and I need to go to the prefects meeting too."

When they left Harry and Ginny were left in an awkward silence.

"So Harry, what it is that you were reading before we came in?" Ginny tried filling the silence.

"Oh this? It's just a car magazine. It's really cool to look at. I was just browsing through features for Eleanor."

"Who's Eleanor?" Ginny asked. She was just thinking that after being attracted so quickly to someone like she was to Harry, that it was a bummer that he was taken.

"She's my car."

"You have a car? And you named it?" she couldn't help but be relieved at the news that Eleanor wasn't some long time girlfriend though.

"Yeah. It's a great car. My godfather bought it for me as a gift on my sixteenth birthday."

"Wow! I don't know any wizards who have cars. We had a ford once but that didn't work out very well as dad tried charming it."

"I would never do that to my car. She's fine the way she is. And it's really fun driving. It's relaxing you know. And when you want to be alone, you can just drive alone while listening to music or something."

The two continued to talk until Ron and Hermione went back into the compartment to change into their school robes.

Harry couldn't help but feel that he would be great friends with the three.

The time he had spent with Ginny had been more fantastic though. They had talked while lightly flirting and Harry couldn't wait to see what would happen between them. He truly had never seen a more beautiful girl. Not that he had seen many, but still.

He couldn't wait to see what Hogwarts had in store for him. He couldn't help but feel that Sirius had been right about everything about Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry on arrival in the great hall had followed the first years in order to be sorted right after them. He felt really old compared to the tiny first years and couldn't help but be a little bit embarrassed. Of course the great hall broke out in loud whispers when they saw an older student arriving. After all they had never seen any other student that had not come in during first year arrive at Hogwarts before.

Most of them also didn't know that it was the famed 'Harry Potter,' otherwise there would've been more staring and pointing. Not that Harry didn't feel like he was already being stared at and dissected.

Harry stood there thinking about his family while the hat sang it's song and then when the first years were being sorted. He already missed Andrew and Emily. Even though they could be really annoying sometimes, he really missed them. Andrew was probably playing some prank on Emily or even Sirius. He never really played pranks on his mom. Elle would blow a casket, even though she was amused really inside. But since she took the role of disciplinary (as Sirius was putty in Emily's hands and enjoyed his son's pranking too much for him to mind) she couldn't exactly show it.

Harry had honestly found the best father in Sirius. He would always have a special place in his heart for his parents but Sirius had not made him feel as if he was missing anything while he was growing up. True, he didn't have a mother figure around when he was younger but still, Sirius was a good godfather.

Even when he was still training to beat Voldermort and they had to search for his horcruxes, he had still felt like a normal kid. But things had turned out from great to fantastic when Sirius met Elle. Before Elizabeth, Sirius was a player, never keeping a girlfriend for longer than a month. But he had met Elizabeth, fell in love and gotten married to her when Harry was ten.

He had never felt like he needed a mother before, but when Elle came into their lives, he had seen all these wonderful changes. Suddenly they ate like a family all the time, she tucked him in at night even though he had told Sirius to stop doing that when he was nine, she liked cuddling him and ruffling his hair or hugging him all the time.

And when they had told her they were expecting when he was twelve, he had been over the moon. He would finally have a sibling to tease and to do brotherly things for. And when Emily came, they had just been wrapped around her finger just by her looking at them with her mother's eyes.

Harry was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear McGonagall call his name.

"Potter Harry," she repeated a bit louder.

That finally got Harry's attention and the fact that the Great Hall seemed to have gone silent with faces showing shock

Despite the whispering that broke out again, Harry moved towards the stool with his head held high. When he put the hat on his head, he almost jumped when he heard a voice in his head.

"Another Potter. Well where to put you Mister Potter. You're loyal, smart, courageous and cunning. Yes this is going to be very difficult. Mmm…let me see….mmm…you would do well in Slytherin…yes that would be a good house for you…well-"

"No," Harry argued. "I would not do well in Slytherin. I don't want to be there. Please not Slytherin," he begged.

"Not Slytherin then. Well I guess I have to put you in GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and made his way to the Gryffindor table as the Gryffindors gave him a roaring applause. He was wondering where he would sit, when he saw Ginny waving him over.

"Harry! I'm so glad you're in Gryffindor," she told him excitedly.

"Yeah, me too Ginny."

The dinner passed with new and amazing things for Harry. He had never seen so much food in his life and it was all delicious. There were ghosts just roaming around and the ceiling was just brilliant. Students spoke excitedly to each other and the staff looked promising enough. Well that was more likely because he knew most of them anyway seeing as Moony, McGonagall and Dumbledore practically helped raise him.

Snape was there too, which was very unfortunate. He had seen the man a few times and Harry knew that Snape didn't like him one bit. He didn't understand why the man would just judge him on the basis of what had happened ages ago with his father.

_Oh well the greasy git is going to get what's coming to him if he doesn't watch it. And I do have to make Sirius proud somehow._

….

When Harry got into the common room, he couldn't help but feel at home. It was just so cozy and homey. Ron showed him his dorm and his bed. His belongings were already right next to his bed.

"Thanks Ron," he told him.

"No worries mate. It's my job after all. Hermione would kill me if I didn't. Not that I didn't want to or anything.

The next morning while they were still eating breakfast, McGonagall handed them their timetables.

"Thanks Minnie," Harry said without thinking.

"Professor Harry," she corrected him sternly.

"Sorry professor," he smiled at her.

Most of the time she appeared strict and proper but Harry knew how she really was in private. OK so maybe she was proper most of the time but she was loving and kind and had a wicked sense of humor.

"What was that?" Hermione asked when the professor had walked away.

"What was what?" From the short time that he had known her, Harry already knew that the bushy haired witch missed nothing. She was the most perceptive person that he had met in a long time.

"You called her Minnie. And she called you by your name. Professor McGonagall never does that. Plus when she told you to call her professor, she wasn't annoyed at you."

"Yeah well, she's sort of like my aunt or something like that."

"She's your aunt?" Ginny asked surprised.

"Not by blood or anything. She's a family friend I guess."

"Maybe she'll be lenient with you," Ron added excitedly with his mouth full.

"Could you speak without food in your mouth for once Ronald? That's so disgusting."

"And Minnie would never do that Ron," Harry added after Hermione's outburst. "She's just too fair for that."

"Well you never know," Ron argued.

It turned out that Harry was right after all. McGonagall was fair during transfiguration. She couldn't have been unfair anyways as Harry was fantastic in Transfiguration. He had frustrated poor Hermione by doing better than her in not only that class but every single one that they had that day.

Harry didn't understand why she was so upset. He had had to learn everything he could to defeat Voldermort, so obviously he was good. He couldn't help that.

Harry was doing his charms essay when Ginny plopped down next to him.

"So how was your first day of classes Harry?"

"They were ok. A bit boring though, but ok."

"Boring? I'm used to hard, challenging, a bit scary or daunting but boring! I've never had that before," she told him with a smile and shake of her head.

Harry laughed and smiled at her before answering. _This girl really is adorable_, he thought to himself.

"Thing is, I've done all those things before or maybe the advanced version of them. So everything was easy for me. Writing all these essays is going to be annoying though."

"You learnt everything before?"

"Well not everything. I had to train to beat Voldermort after all so I had to know my staff. I had tutors since I was five…the best of their fields. Even if I don't know something, if I can just understand what it's about, I can usually get it really fast."

"Wow. Maybe you can help me with my work."

"Maybe I will. I can't exactly say no to a beautiful lady now can I?"

"Are you flirting with me Mr Potter?"

"Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it?"

"Well maybe I can-"

"Ginny! I've been looking for you," Ron interrupted. "Pig dropped off your letter from mom along with mine. Here you go," he said while handing it to her.

"So what are you guys doing?"

"Nothing Ron," replied an annoyed Ginny. "We were just talking."

Ron really had an irritating knack for interrupting.

"Harry, do you want to play chess?"

"No thanks Ron. I have to finish my essay."

"OK. Let me go and see what Dean and Seamus are doing then."

Harry was about to comment on Ron's importune appearance when he noticed Ginny scowling into her letter.

"Ginny? What is it?"

"It's my mom. My family is so annoying sometimes. You make one mistake in your life and they never let it go."

"What happened?"

Ginny looked at Harry with a bit of uncertainty in her eyes. She didn't exactly know Harry, even though it felt like she did. She couldn't go around spouting her feelings to people she didn't know.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to talk about it," Harry told her, noticing the conflicting emotions she was feeling.

"No, it's ok. I'm just not used to talking about this. It's really hard for me, you know."

Harry took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze in support.

"I understand. I'm a good listener, I promise," he told her with one of his crooked smiles that she was starting to like.

She giggled and turned to him.

"Well," she began going back to being serious again. "In my first year I got in possession of a diary. I started writing in it because I felt lonely because none of my brothers payed attention to me while we here. At home they doted on me and played with me all the time but when we got here, they had their own friends and forgot about me. Ron didn't even want me to sit with him and his friends. So I got really lonely and wrote in the diary all the time.

I started noticing that there would be periods of time where I wouldn't remember anything about. I would suddenly see myself covered in dirt and in places where I didn't remember going. Students started getting petrified and I suspected that it was me. When Hermione was petrified I went to Dumbledore and turned myself in. I thought that I was going to be expelled. I was so scared Harry," she said in a quiet voice.

"But Dumbledore didn't do that. Instead he told me that I was strong for fighting Tom for that long and that nothing would happen to me. I was so thankful when I heard that. But my family doesn't trust me anymore. They treat me like that eleven year old girl that was possessed by a diary.

They're always smothering me in attention. I don't have any space at home and all my brothers are always looking out for me and chasing boys away. When Percy, the twins and Ron were here together, it was really bad. But now there is just Ron so it's a bit better."

"Twins? Percy? Are those your brothers?"

"Yeah. The twins are great. They're so funny and always pull pranks. You would love them. Percy is a bit…ok not a bit…he's pompous. He's always thinking that he's better than everyone else. Then there's Bill and Charlie. Bill is the oldest and he works in Egypt as a curse breaker. Charlie is the second oldest. He works with dragons in Romania."

"Six brothers?" Harry asked shocked.

Ginny laughed at his expression and nodded.

Harry smiled at her and squeezed her hand again.

"Ginny, about the diary, Dumbledore was right. This is Voldermort that we're talking about. You had the will to turn the diary over and that's more than any witch your age could have done. Your family will see that one day. They're just scared that if they don't watch over you something else might happen. I bet they blame themselves for the incident."

"Well stifling me with attention won't help."

"I know," Harry said softy while rubbing her palm with his thumb.

"So…" Harry said after a while with a devious smirk on his face.

"So what?" Ginny asked carefully. That smirk didn't look promising.

"You've never had a boyfriend?"

Ginny blushed crimson and buried her face in the one hand that Harry wasn't holding. Harry laughed quietly while trying to get her to look at him.

"I didn't say that. They just didn't last under my brother's wrath. Michael broke up with me a week after we started dating and Dean broke up with me two weeks after we started going out."

"Ouch!"

"Shut up Potter. It wasn't my fault anyways. I'm too pretty to be dumped," she said jokingly.

"That's true," Harry told her while looking straight into her deep chocolate eyes.

A blush crept up on Ginny's face while she looked at him too. Harry was starting to lean into her when Hermione went over to their couch.

It seemed like interrupting was Hermione and Ron's thing.

"Harry, how did you do that rune translation so fast? I'm still struggling with it and you finished it in class?" she asked with a tinge of frustration in her voice.

"Elle is very good with runes so she started teaching me when she married Sirius. She says I'm as good as her now."

"Wizards always have the advantages," she muttered while moving away.

"Well," Ginny started awkwardly. "I have to get to bed."

"Goodnight Ginny," He told her and then kissed her hand. Ginny blushed an even deeper shade of red than he had seen and scrambled quickly to the stairs.


End file.
